Cost of Floor Slab/Basement and Interior Finishing - Fact Check

(...) As for the self-build house: yes, doing it yourself basically saves money, but only if you have the time, skills, and motivation to invest yourself. 50% savings on labor costs is a realistically estimated figure; if you do an entire trade yourself, you save on installation. But you still have to buy the materials, maybe even more expensive at retail. Rental tools, longer construction time (with rent), possible mistakes and rework – that adds up. Many builders tend to overestimate themselves, especially with their first house. If it works for you: go for it. But better to be honest with yourself. (...)

Aha. So all the materials including the drywall sander (bought), Rotband for the ceilings, paint, rollers, brushes for my 152m² place cost me 2,000 EUR. That would mean a professional painter would have done it for 4,000 EUR? Don’t you believe that yourself?

I installed the parquet and laminate myself; for that I bought a miter saw for 250 EUR, a pull bar, a tapping block and a hammer. What expensive rental tools should I have bought for that? Oh right, a utility knife for the underlay, sure, and 10 spare blades.

For the interior doors, I would have to buy three spreaders for 25 EUR...

And for the tiles in the utility room, a tile cutter for 25 EUR was enough; I already had the angle grinder. But yes, I had the hallway and kitchen done, 60x60 cm plus time pressure in the construction schedule, I didn’t trust myself to do that back then.

Hello, as already mentioned, I also recommend having a separate expert report prepared for the property first. My recommendation based on the soil profile is to build better with a slab foundation. There is loess loam on top, which is not good, but not a disaster either. The deeper you go, the higher the water content and the worse the soil becomes. At 2.8 m, a water-bearing layer is reached. That means if a basement is built, the excavation pit will fill with water, or water retention measures must be taken. A lot of wet soil excavated (disposed of by the ton) and the basement must be constructed to be waterproof against water pressure. Below that is rock, so it becomes firm. Therefore, preferably a slab foundation and not digging too deep into the ground, working during a dry period (not November to March). As a precaution, I would recommend 1 m of soil excavation, if the subgrade is soft, to install a layer of coarse aggregate (0/100) and then the gravel cushion made of FSS material. As mentioned, my "rough" assessment of the ground based on the limited information.